Egypt plans $1bn AI data centre with Nvidia tech

Egypt plans to build its first large-scale artificial intelligence data centre, a 200 megawatt facility valued at $1 billion that would use Nvidia technology, its communications and information technology minister announced on September 9.

The project is expected to begin with a three-year initial phase: a 20 megawatt facility worth $200 million. That phase is to be built by Vodafone Business, Elsewedy Electric and Cassava Technologies, which is Nvidia's main partner in Africa.

Cassava Technologies said the Egyptian data centre will use Nvidia accelerated computing technologies. Nvidia graphics processing units are used to train AI models and are housed in specialised data centres.

The plan comes as the United States and China compete for influence in AI infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa. Bloomberg had reported that Huawei bid to build a data centre for Egypt, prompting Washington to push a rival offer from Nvidia, AMD and Microsoft.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed last week to expand cooperation on artificial intelligence and technology, but did not sign concrete agreements. Egyptian state media said Communications Minister Hindi later met an unnamed US consortium of data centre developers.

AI data centre growth has been slower in Africa than in other regions, partly because of weak electricity grids in many countries. AI data centres can consume up to five times more power than traditional data centres. Egypt has struggled with an energy deficit for years.